Language: English

For the first time in the history of the Russian Armed forces the All-army Olympiad on foreign languages among cadets of military universities is being held in the Moscow Military University on April 18-21. In the course of the military education reform, the number of hours assigned on the study of foreign languages, has considerably increased.

Timorese leaders and people, though islanders, are very outward-looking, open to cultural influences, eagerly learning and absorbing the good (and bad) we see, read and hear around us. We are among the most polyglot people in the world. A very large percentage of us manage as many as three to five languages — a native language, Tetum, Indonesian, English and Portuguese.

The 10 year national plan for a Trilingual Sri Lanka provides the blueprint for the first determined effort by any administration since 1987 to seriously implement the provisions for a Trilingual Sri Lanka already available in the law with the passing of the 13th amendment to the constitution, said Presidential Adviser and coordinator of the Special Presidential Initiative for a Trilingual Sri Lanka, Sunimal Fernando.

Like the majority of Tanzanians, these students were taught in the Kiswahili language throughout seven years of primary school. But moving to secondary school means an abrupt shift to learning all subjects in English, which many educators, students and parents say affects how much learning actually takes place.

A monthly newsletter in the city of Chateauguay, Quebec, has caused a stir and it has nothing to do with its content. A resident complained there was too much English in the newsletter and now, Quebec's language watchdog has launched an investigation.

Led by the Societe Saint-Jean Baptiste and the Mouvement Quebec Francais, 300 of the complaints were collected by one retired worker who spends his days looking for egregious language violations. Standing in front of the bust of Camille Laurin, the father of Bill 101, English-only flyers from grocery stores and tailors were presented as examples of violations.

The current draft of rules would let livery drivers pick up street hails for four years before becoming proficient in English. Taxi and Limousine Commission officials, however, are considering exempting current livery drivers from even the four-year deadline because they’re concerned many won’t be able to pass the test and would lose their livelihoods, sources said.

At this juncture in South Africa’s history, it may seem an odd time to write a book about the use of English in South Africa. The notion might seem regressive, colonial, even a bit politically incorrect. Mesthrie is quick to correct this. “Despite being a minority language in South Africa, English is the most-shared language,” said Mesthrie.

The default policy in California schools immerses students in English without building on what they’ve learned in their native languages. At the same time, a growing body of research underscores the benefits of speaking two or more languages early in life.

The researchers, based at the Laboratoire de psychologie cognitive (LPC) de l'Universite d'Aix-Marseille have shown that a group of baboons has successfully learned to discriminate real English words from pseudo words just by looking at their written form.

“We were looking at a different way to package a language course,” said Fanara. “One of the best ways is to create an environment for people where they can only speak English. They are forced to speak the language they are learning.” The school is only for adults and takes its students on a tour around Ireland to listen to and speak with different accents.

Battistella is on a mission to fill gaps in the English language, inventing words for concepts that should have words — but don't. A pleasant feeling inspired by sunshine? That's "soloria" (from "sol" plus "euphoria"). The emotional rush that lovers experience on Feb. 14? Call it a "valentingle."

The sound of Norfolk dialect has been troshing around the tearbles of a school room. But the “larnin” about mawkins, dickeys and squit has not been among the fields and flint buildings of the language’s homeland. It has been amid palm trees and skyscrapers 3000 miles away in Saudi Arabia.

Timor-Leste has chosen Portuguese as its official language of government, though Tetum remains the other official language. This language policy, a return to its colonial heritage, has future implications for the state’s development and geopolitical relations in the region.

..So, out of the idealism of the 1960s, long before Bill 101, they did what speakers of the world’s dominant language normally don’t do: they began to learn another language, and to have it taught to their children. And when others fled the first Parti Québécois government, they stayed; they bet their futures, and those of their children, on Quebec.

It is true that various terms are rooted in Elizabethan English, Scottish, Celtic, and Irish languages, and dialects do remain in use amongst the Appalachian people, but there is no across the board commonality amongst them that explains the unique nature of the language, other than geography. Urban immigrant and ethic concentrations existed, yet no clearly distinct way of speaking beyond a common accent had developed in these places.

Israeli scholarship is widely cited the world over. But if state linguists have their way, much of that research will become a whole lot less accessible to those who don’t speak Hebrew. The Academy of the Hebrew Language is asking the Education Ministry to require universities to use less English — the language in which many graduate-level courses are taught, and in which much of Israel’s scientific research is conducted.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and primary opponent Rick Santorum agreed on at least one thing, in addition to the need to unseat Barack Obama. And that was that the United States must adopt English as its official language.

Starting July 1, Kenney said Provincial Nominee Program applicants in semi-skilled and low-skilled professions will be tested and required to meet a minimum standard when it comes to listening, speaking, reading and writing in at least one of Canada's official languages — English or French.

..It means that Arabic language, whether it is Africanized or pure still has a room in South Sudan, since South Sudanese are Sudanese, who have been influenced over the years by Arab cultural heritage, a Sudanese culture amidst other African cultures and languages in the South. Although Arabic language has been chucked out in the constitution, it still hangs over us like a bouncing ball about to fall down and takes its place.

Do you know what I think is the best protection and promotion of French? It is the sense of camaraderie of francophone Quebecers toward their English co-workers, helping them to feel comfortable speaking French and expanding their fluency, while at the same time taking back some of the same in English.

Linguists say there is a critical need to preserve Indigenous Australian languages that are in danger of dying out. Research shows that up to 90 per cent of the world's 7,000 languages could be lost by the end of the century. Of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, only 20 from of an original 250 are still widely spoken.

"There has been a significant change now, away from those who think sounding English is prestigious, towards those who value being multilingual, who would never neglect our mother tongues, and who are happy to sound Ghanaian when we speak English."

Critic Zhi An believes Arai is probably the only non-native speaker of Chinese capable of writing creatively in the language. Her books, mainly collections of short stories and essays, attract a large readership, cutting across age groups. They love her honesty and insight in describing cross-cultural experiences.

MY FIRST experience of trilingual children was living in Sri Lanka in 2005, where many of the kids I met spoke Tamil, Sinhala and English. I was astounded when I realised that they could also read and write in these languages, a feat requiring knowledge of three completely different scripts – the Roman alphabet, Tamil script with more than 200 letters, and Sinhalese which has more than 50 characters.

English is the second official language of India, bequeathed by British colonisation. And yet, Indians are not considered "native English speakers", as those competing for English language teaching jobs have found. It would be easy to label this as racism but the prejudice is a combination of ignorance and the sometimes poor reputation of the Indian education system.

It is disturbing to me at least that most political leaders speak their languages in the UN, but all Africans, bar our Arabian brothers in the North, read their prepared speeches in their colonial masters languages, this is in English, French or Portuguese.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Language Arts teachers have been urged to promote the use of standard English during school hours, as the Ministry of Education makes a bid to further improve performance in that subject area.